Defense reviewing 1,200 pages of police reports in Marriott case

Tuesday

Feb 5, 2013 at 1:00 PMFeb 5, 2013 at 8:06 PM

By JIM HADDADINjhaddadin@fosters.com

DOVER — Attorneys defending the Dover man suspected of killing University of New Hampshire student Elizabeth Marriott are reviewing hundreds of pages of police reports, witness interviews and other evidence collected in the murder case.

According to court documents, prosecutors have provided the defense team for 30-year-old Seth Mazzaglia with more than 1,200 pages worth of police reports. Other discovery materials produced in the case include laboratory reports and 12 disks containing audio recordings and other "digital data."

For the second time since Mazzaglia was arrested, prosecutors are once again requesting an extension of the time by which they must indict Mazzaglia in connection with Marriott's death.

Mazzaglia has been held in jail since his arrest in October on a second-degree murder charge.

In a motion filed Jan. 29 in Strafford County Superior Court, Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley detailed some of the new developments in the case, including the arrest of Portsmouth resident Kathryn "Kat" McDonough.

The 19-year-old is accused of lying to police about her whereabouts and interaction with Marriott on the night Marriott went missing.

McDonough was engaged in a romantic relationship with Mazzaglia before Marriott's disappearance, prosecutors have confirmed.

On Jan. 2, a superior court judge granted prosecutors until the end of February to present their case against Mazzaglia to a grand jury.

Since then, investigators have conducted additional interviews, and an "attempt was made" to begin presenting the case to a grand jury, according to the state's motion. The motion doesn't elaborate on what took place in the jury proceeding.

Hinckley wrote that the state is now requesting additional time to "complete certain investigative steps" and continue interviewing witnesses. The results of some forensic tests are also still pending, according to the motion.

The state also needs additional time to assess what level of charges are appropriate to bring against Mazzaglia, Hinckley wrote.A Strafford County judge will now consider whether to grant a request by prosecutors to push the timeline for an indictment into April.

Marriott, a 19-year-old University of New Hampshire student, was last seen on Tuesday, Oct. 9, and is presumed dead.

Prosecutors allege Marriott was either strangled or suffocated by Mazzaglia inside his apartment on Mill Street the night she went missing.